Journal of the Senate

Last updated on 08-06-2025

Journal of the Senate, 15th (1817) Congress to Present

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About the Journal of the Senate

What is the Journal of the Senate?

In Article I, Section 5 of the United States Constitution, it states, "Each House shall keep a Journal of its Proceedings, and from time-to-time publish the same, excepting such Parts as may in their Judgment require Secrecy;...". Accordingly, the Journal and not the Congressional Record, is the official record of the proceedings of the Senate.

The Journal is the official record of proceedings of each legislative day in the Senate. The Journal records the result of every vote, and state in general terms the subject of it. The Journal contains no verbatim debate, but instead a rendition of all the official actions of the Senate, including every motion made and every vote taken.

What is available?

  • Senate Journals from the 15th (1817) Congress to the 78th (1943), the 82nd (1951) to the 89th (1965) Congress, and also from the 108th (2003) Congress forward, are available.
  • In GovInfo, the newer Senate Journal publications are part of the Additional Government Publications collection, recognizable by the "GPO-SJOURNAL" or "GPO-CPUB" identifier information in the URLs. The older Senate Journals are part of the U.S. Congressional Serial Set collection, recognizable by the "SERIALSET" identifier information in the URLs.
  • With the digitization of the U.S. Congressional Serial Set, additional historical journals may become available from that collection and be incorporated into the regular Senate Journal collection over time.

Searching the Journal of the Senate

You can find and search the Journal of the Senate by:

  • Using Basic Search for keyword and metadata fielded searches,
  • Using Advanced Search fields after selecting Additional Government Publications and Congressional Serial Set in the Refine by Collection column, selecting Title in the Search In column, then typing "Journal of the Senate" with quotation marks into the criteria box. See this example.
  • Refining search results by clicking on links in the Refine Your Search panel on the left side of the page (the sections under Refine Your Search correspond to the metadata available for the documents), and
  • Browsing the Senate Journal browse page.

General GovInfo Search Tips

Search Examples

Search by Congress Member with the text of the document; For example, documents mentioning Congress member Kennedy.

  • Using Basic Search, enter: title:"Journal of the Senate of the United States of America" and Kennedy
  • Using Advanced Search, check All Collections under Refine by Collection, then under Search In select Title from the first box and enter "Journal of the Senate of the United States"with quotations; in the next box. Click on +Additional Criteria and enter Kennedy.

Search by Date For example, documents from January 20, 2004.

  • Using Basic Search, enter title:"Journal of the Senate of the United States" and publishdate:2004-01-20
  • Using Advanced Search, under Date Range select Date is from the first box and enter or select 01/20/2004 in the next box, skip the Refine by Collection column (all collections will be searched by default), and in the Search In column, select title and enter Journal of the Senate of the United States.

Search by Bill Number ; For example, documents that reference S. 218.

  • Using Basic Search, enter title:"Journal of the Senate of the United States" and billscitation:"S. 2018"

Sample Journal of the Senate URLs

GovInfo uses key pieces of information to construct predictable URLs to documents and Details pages.

  • For Senate Journals created within the Additional Government Publications collection, 83rd Congress (1953) forward, and having the "GPO-SJOURNAL" or "GPO-CPUB" identifier information in the URL, the Package ID is used to identify the Congressional edition of the Journal.
  • For Senate Journals created within the Serial Set collection, 82nd (1951) back, and having the "SERIALSET" identifier information in the URL, the Granule ID is used to identify the Congressional edition of the Journal.

Identifier

Structure/Metadata Field

Examples

Package ID (Additional Government Publications collection, 108th Congress forward

GPO-CPUB{Congress Number}{spub}{Publication Number}

GPO-CPUB-118spub7

Package ID (Additional Government Publications collection, 82rd-107th Congress)

GPO-SJOURNAL{Congress Number}-{Publication Number}

GPO-SJOURNAL-89-1

Package ID - Individual Document (Senate Journal) from the Serial Set collection

SERIALSET-{Serial Set Number}-{Sequence #}-{Document #}-{Doc Part #}

SERIALSET-11484_00_00-001-0000-0000

Details Page for a Journal of the Senate Edition

Structure: https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/{Package ID}

Example: https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GPO-CPUB-118spub7

Example: https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GPO-SJOURNAL-89-1

Example: https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/SERIALSET-11484_00_00-001-0000-0000

 

PDF File for a Journal of the Senate Edition

Structure: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/{Package ID}/pdf/{Granule ID}.pdf

Example: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CPUB-118spub7/pdf/GPO-CPUB-118spub7.pdf

Example: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-SJOURNAL-89-1/pdf/GPO-SJOURNAL-89-1.pdf

Example: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/SERIALSET-11484_00_00-001-0000-0000/pdf/SERIALSET-11484_00_00-001-0000-0000.pdf

 

TEXT File for a Journal of the Senate Edition (*82rd-107th Congress only)

Structure: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/{Package ID}/text/{Package ID}.txt

Example: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-SJOURNAL-89-1/text/GPO-SJOURNAL-89-1.txt


Journal of the Senate Metadata Fields and Values

Metadata fields and values can be used to increase the relevancy of your searches. The metadata fields available for the Journal of the House of Representatives are listed in the table below. Metadata fields and values are used throughout GovInfo for

  • Narrowing Your Search,
  • Browsing Government Publications,
  • Field Operators,
  • Advanced Search, and
  • Display on Details Pages.

Metadata fields and values can be entered into the Basic Search box using field operators. The field operators available for the Journal of the Senate are listed in the table below, along with examples for each metadata field. Using Field Operators

Some of these metadata fields are made available for use in Advanced Search. The metadata values can be entered in the same format for the fields available on the Advanced Search Page. Using Advanced Search

Metadata Field Display Name

Metadata Field Definition

Field Operator

Field Operator Example

Collection

The collection to which the document belongs. Typically the same as the publication or series.

collection:

 

collection:gpo

 

"gpo" is used for Journal of the Senate, 83rd Congress (1953) forward

collection:serialset

 

"serialset" is used for Journal of the Senate, 82nd (1951) back

Government Author

The names of the Government organizations responsible for authoring or assembling the document.

governmentauthor:

governmentauthor:Congress

Publication Date

The date the document was first made available to the public.

publishdate:

publishdate2004-01-20

 

Date format is YYYY-MM-DD

Language

The language code of the original document, from the ISO639-2b standard.

language:

language:eng

SuDoc Class Number

The SuDoc class number from the U.S. Superintendent of Documents which classifies Government publications by publishing agency.

sudocclass:

sudocclass:"XJS:"

 

The SuDoc Class Numbers in GovInfo are generally at the class stem level, not the book number level.

Ingestion Date

The date the document was ingested into the preservation repository.

ingestdate:

ingestdate:2024-10-21

 

Date format is YYYY-MM-DD

Electronic Location (URL)

The URL where the document or content detail page is located.

url:

url:"https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-SJOURNAL-89-1/pdf/GPO-SJOURNAL-…"

Publisher

The government organization who publishes the document or publication. Not typically the Government Publishing Office (who serves as the printer and distributor), except in the case of Congressional publications.

publisher:

publisher:"u.s. government publishing office"

Branch

The branch of Government responsible for the document's contents.

branch:

branch:legislative

 

Possible values: executive, legislative, judicial

Type of Resource

The media type for the document, typically "text". Defined as part of the Library of Congress MODS standard.

typeofresource:

typeofresource:text

Record Origin

How the record was originally generated. Typically "machine generated."

recordorigin:

recordorigin:"reformatted digital"

Publication Title

The title of the publication. Individual documents can be searched using the title field operator.

title:

title:"Journal of the Senate of the United States"

Congress Number

The number of the Congress responsible for the document. Congresses last for two years, so for example, the 89th Congress was in session from 1965 through 1966.

congress:

congress:89

Session Number

The session of Congress which produced the report.

session:

session:2

 

Possible values: 1, 2

Citation

The GPO standard method for searching citation references from the selected publication.

citation:

citation:"1995 H. Journal Pg. 177"

Congressional Bills Citation

Citation references to Congressional Bills. Examples include, "H.R. 99", "S. 99" "H.J. Res. 99", "S.J. Res. 99", "H. Con. Res. 99", "S. Con. Res. 99", "H. Res. 99" or "S. Res. 99".

billscitation:

billscitation:"s. 2018"

Congressional Report

Citation

Citation references to Congressional Reports. For example, "S. Rept. 108-226".

crptcitation:

crptcitation:"S. Rept. 108-226"

United States Code

Citation

Citation references to the United States Code. For example, "21 U.S.C. 1705" or "31 U.S.C. Chapter 7"

uscodecitation:

uscodecitation:"21 U.S.C. 1705"

Statutes at Large

References

Citation references to Statutes at Large. For example, "80 Stat. 1112".

statutecitation:

statutecitation:"80 Stat. 1112"

Public and Private Law

References

Citation references to Public or Private Laws. For example, "Public Law 70-770".

plawcitation:

plawcitation:"Public Law 86-434"

Reference Citation

Reference to another document within the text of a document.

refcitation:

refcitation:"50 CFR Part 679"

Journal of the Senate Related Resources

  • Featured House, Senate and Joint Publications - Select documents of the House or Senate, or jointly published by the United States Senate and United States House of Representatives.
  • Conference Reports of the U.S. Congress - website for agreements on legislation that are negotiated between the House and Senate via conference committees.
  • Congressional Documents - Documents from congressional committees that cover a wide variety of topics and may include reports of executive departments and independent organizations, reports of special investigations made for Congress, and annual reports of non-governmental organizations.
  • Congressional Reports - Documents from congressional committees that cover a wide variety of topics and may include reports of executive departments and independent organizations, reports of special investigations made for Congress, and annual reports of non-governmental organizations.
  • Congressional Serial Set - Browse numbered Senate and House Documents and Senate and House Reports, bound by Session of Congress.
  • Browse by Congressional Committee - Browse documents issued by individual committees, including Bills, Documents, Reports, and Hearings.
  • Contact your local Federal Depository Library
  • Search Opportunities to Purchase the Journal of the Senate - From GPO's Online Bookstore